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January, 1!)! 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 

t-AS. BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 



1 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL.^ 

\ BRIEF EXPLANATION OF A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR AND 
Ij REGULATE THE USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS AS 

COMMUNITY FORUMS. 

iiii 

'iii PURPOSE. 

't 

The central aim of all legislation has been detiued as being " to make more 

beneficial to the people those things from which the people are accustomed 

to derive benefit." This proposed measure exactly fulfills that practical ideal 

of the prime business of legislation, 

SCHOOLHOUSES NOW USED. 

The common schoolhouses throughout the country have been from the be- 
ginning and are now buildings " from which the people are accustomed to 
derive benefit," not only through their use for the formal instruction of chil- 
dren during the day and for the instruction of children and others in evening 
schools, but through their noninstructional use for adult assemblies of various 
kinds. But, except as these buildings are used for legally constituted district 
school meetings, or where such legislation as is here proposed is in operation, 
this adult use is planless, haphazard, unfruitful of real community advantage, 
and totally inconsistent with the proper dignity and unifying service of the 
public school. 

THE AMERICAN NEED AND OPPORTUNITY. 

The people everywhere are awakening to the great and pressing need which 
exists in every State and in every neighborhood of every State — the increasing 
need for an effective machinery for the development of civic spirit and "the 
manufacture of patriotic common sense " — the need to which President Wilson 
points when he says : 

It is necesssary that a simple means be found by which, by an interchange 
of points of view, we may get together ; for the whole process of modern politics, 
the whole process of modern life, is a process in which we must exclude mis- 
understandings, exclude hostilities, bring all men into common council, and so 
discover what is the common interest. 

This is tlie problem of modern life. 

And wherever eyes are open and the constructive impulse of America is 
manifesting itself it is coming to be seen that the common schoolhouses present 
the read\- and true opportunity for economically answering this need, for, as 
the President says : 

They are public buildings. They are conveniently distributed. They belong 
to the communities. They furnish ideal places in which to assemble and dis- 
cuss public affairs. They ai-e just what we need. 

^For the text of the bill see p. 8-12. 
78.378—17 



PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL 



■/Is- 



WITHOUT PROVISIONS OF THIS BILL SCHOOLHOUSES IDLE OR 

MISUSED. 

However, in sjiite of rlie iiiosi piitriotic iiitentioiis on the ptirt of sehool 
trustees and private individuals, the resfturces of coiunion understanding and 
Anierifauisin which inhere in the proi>er adult use of the coiuuion-sehool houses 
are uot being developed and can not be developed without the enactment 
of such a measure as is here proposed. Without this legall.v established provision 
for the consistent communit.v forum use of the itublic school Imildiusrs this is 
what liai>])ens : 

Application is made to the sciiool trustees b.v this or that iiartisaii. sectarian, 
or other jirivate organization for permission to use the public-school hon.se for 
meetings to be held under its (private) auspices. If the school trustees recog- 
nize that such i)rivate use and control of i)ublic property, with its tendency to 
promote partisanship and sectarliinism, Is inappropriate and Inconsistent with 
the proper service of the public-school hou.se and refuse to accede to such a 
request, then the school trustees are exposed to the charge that they are show- 
ing a dog-in-the-manger attitude, denying to the people that which the people 
need and desire and to which the people clearly have a right. If, on the other 
hand, the .school trustees grant this sort of request they are confronted with 
the embarrassing question. " If that private organization is allowed the use of 
the schoolhouse. why not this one? If this, why not the other? And — where is 
the line to be drawn?" The trouble which has arisen in connection with the 
privately coHstituted " labor-forum " use of a public-school building in New 
York City and the partial destruction of a rural schoolhouse in Iowa, residting 
fi'om jealousy and friction growing out of the permitted private-group use of 
this building, in the ca.se recently cited by United States Senatcn- Nelson, are 
but aggravated instances of what may happen in any State where legal provi- 
sion for the consistent connnunity-forum tise of the public-school buildings is 
not made. 

THIS BILL CONSISTENTLY AND CONSTRUCTIVELY SOLVES 

PROBLEM. 

The ])assage of this measure will obviate the necessity of either closing the 
schoolhouse, and so making it a monument of wasted opportunity and lack of 
l)ublic spirit, or discriminating between the various private organizations which 
may seek to use it for meetings, with the risk of rousing jealousy and ill will, 
by providing for its consistent use by the one organization which really has the 
right to this use, namely, the single all-inclusive comnuinity association of adult 
citizens. 

The city hall is not turned over to this or that section of the aldermen; the 
State house is not let out to this or that partisan group of legislators; the 
National Capitol is not given up to the exclusive use of this or that faction of 
the Congressmen. Each of these public buildings is made the deliberative head- 
> quarters of the one all-incbisive body of local, State, or Federal representatives. 
In the same way this legislation i>rovides that the schoolhouses shall be made 
available for use, not as the gathering places of this or that biased, private, 
volunteer grotip, rej»resenting some one partisan, sectarian, or factional view- 
point', but as the headquarters of the conununity body of adult citizens of each 
school district responsibly organized for bringing together the different view- 
points that are held by dilTerent people and finding " the common sense to 
which discussion leads " in orderly and systematic neighborhood c(mference. 
That is to say, this legislation provides for the realization of the program of 

D. of D. 
JUN .J3' 1917 






N. 



PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL. 



\ 



organized citizenship expression which has been indorsed by ex-Presidents 
Roosevelt and Taft and whicli is formulated by President Wilson in these 
words : 

Citizens going to school to one another in the connnon-school houses to under- 
stand and answer public questions, as hitherto only representatives of the (/iti- 
zens have gone to school to one another in the buildings provided for them, 

And obviously only such connuunity organization of the adult citizens for the 
forum use of the schoolhouse as that for which this bill provides is in harmony 
with the established use of the building for the instruction of pupils. For the 
children the schoolhouse is not a partisan or a sectarian meeting place but a 
conunon ground of citizenship training. To have the building used as the com- 
mon ground of adult citizenship expression not only means no disharmony 
with, but means most powerful aid to the effectiveness of the school in this 
established service. As Commissioner Edward C. Elliott, of Montana, has said : 

Nine-tenths of the so-called instruction that aims to make for healthy, active 
standards of citizenship is devoted to the mouthing of the mere forms of civic 
existence. Vital instruction in the civic virtues means contact with the real 
pulsating civic life. The citizenship of the future must be trained in the civic 
forums of to-day. And the civic forum contemplated in the organization of the 
community center gives more promise of contributing virility and strength to 
civic education than any effort that has sought to bulwark political institutions 
since the days when the Athenian boy became a Greek through vitalizing con- 
tact with the life of his elders, and the Roman boy was educated with and by 
Roman citizens. 

NOT A NEW IDEA. 

Fundamentally the plan of c(jmmunity-forum organization provitled for in 
this measure is no novelty, no untried, Utopian scheme. It is simply the adapta- 
tion of the district school meeting idea and practice, which have been in opera- 
tion throughout a large part of the United States for more than half a century ; 
the adaptation of this established idea and practice to the modern need. All 
quesions as to the feasibility of the community-forum assembly of adult citizens 
in the schoolhouse for the orderly free discussion of public questions are an- 
swered affirmatively and conclusively by the Nation's experience in the district 
school meeting. 

However, it is important to notice the distinctions between that old-estab- 
lished institution and the community-forum organization for which this measure 
provides. The district school meeting was the deliberative assembly of men 
and women by neighborhoods to discuss and decide only a limited range of pub- 
lic questions arbitrarily regarded as pertaining merely to the local community 
institution. In the schoolhouse forum provided for in this bill men and women 
may assemble by communities to consider and develop understanding concern- 
ing county or municipal. State and National matters of public welfare, as well 
as those of local neighborhood character. The district school meeting was and 
is, as a rule, but an annual connuunity gathering. The forum assembly of the 
citizens for which this bill provides may be in session as often as once a week. 
The district school meeting was and is sometimes a merely formal, dry, 
uninteresting occasion. The community forum for which this measure provides 
is likely to become the very center of vital and wholesome interest and benefit 
to the people. 

IMPROVEMENT ON DISTRICT SCHOOL MEETING. 

While the community forum organization provided for in this bill exactly re- 
produces the old school-meeting idea in the all-inclusive community character 
<.f its membership, yet in one vitally important particular this modern develop- 



4 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL. 

iiient improves uiidii tliiit iuicii'iitly established institution. Tlio "oxeculivo 
secretary " of the school nieetini;- Wiis a specially employed person, who mii;ht 
or niijilit not have any vital understanding of and interest in the .areat cause of 
public education. On account of the infrequency and restricted business of the 
School meetinsr. Ihe person engaged as clerk might occupy this office as a 
little "side line" to .some private vocation. In the conununity forum organiza- 
tion for whicli this bill provides the executive-secretarial service, necessary for 
consistent and i-esponsible forum organization, is made a part of the proper 
duty of the public-school principal or his associate, the official in each local 
community most likely to be free from partisan or sectarian bias. 

DIGNIFY AND STRENGTHEN PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE. 

A straightforward statement of the need for this legislation in its executive- 
secretary feature is given by M. T. Buckley, who has done some of the most 
uotably constructive work of community organization that may be found any- 
where in the country. He says : 

You ki\ow and I know tliat the best men are not attracted to school work 
to-day. Legislation that will recognize the conmiunity secretarial service of the 
school principal as worthy of public remuneration will help to make school 
principalship attractive to strong young men : for it will make it look like a 
man-size job. 

It has been my experience, and I believe the experience of every school man 
who has endeavored to make his school yield increased returns to the tax- 
payers, that efforts to bring people together for the presentation and discussion 
of vital problems of community welfare have been met by the criticism : " That 
is not the sort of work you were hired to do." But we Icnow that we can not 
do o\ir duty by the children in our schools unless we get the adult citizens of 
the conununity together for the discussion of common questions. We know 
that this is an important part of our work, and we know that unless we do it, 
nobody will do it in the average community. 

Now. the main reason why there should be legislation that fixes a definite 
remuneration for the service of the school principal or some other responsible 
person as community secretary is that such legislation will give the official 
backing to the efforts of the school man or woman which will make it possible 
for him or her to serve the people more efficiently. 

When I speak of the need of this legislation to give authoi'ity to the school 
man for his service as community secretary, I do not mean that it will give him 
authority over the adult citizenship. It will not and it should not do that, but 
it will give him authority to serve under the adult citizenship as the town clei'k 
served under the adult citizenship of the old New England town. The greatness 
that it will give the principnl is the greatness of official recognition as the 
servant of the whole community. 

With this work recognized and remunerated as public service, the people will 
be equipped to get three times the value that they have been getting from their 
investment in educational property and incidentally will have in their hands the 
machinery for that genuine home rule which is democracy. 

EXPERIENCE OF WISCONSIN AND OTHER STATES. 

The provisions of this bill are practically identical with those which have 
been in operation in Wisconsin for five years and in other States for periods 
ranging from one to five years, except that this bill includes the provision for 
which the experience of Wisconsin and these other States shows the need: that 
Is, the definite fixing of responsibility for executive-secretarial service incidental 
to the consistent forum use of the public schoolhouse. Concerning the experi- 
ence of Wisconsin, Charles P. Cary, that State's superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, writes : 

The movement for develoi»ing the civic, social, and recreational — that is, the 
larger educational — resources in each community through the use of the public- 



PEOPOSED COMMUNITY FOKUM BILL. 5 

school building by adults for civic expression, by older youth for training in 
self-government, and by the whole community for wholesome recreation has 
grown in the past few years out of the tentative and experimental stage. We 
know from the experiences in many places in Wisconsin nnd elsewhere that sys- 
tematic community center development is possible only where there is the 
definite placing of responsibility for executive-secretarial service in each cora- 
miinity. 

REDUCE CAMPAIGN EXPENSES. 

The plan embodied in this bill makes possible the elimination of at least one- 
half the expenses of political campaigns, and the cutting away, in large part, 
of the shield behind which corrupt practices operate. Where the citizens are 
organized for the consistent forum use of the schoolhouses, the trouble and ex- 
pense to the several parties of hiring halls for public meetings is done away 
with. When the Australian ballot was adopted, the several parties were re- 
lieved of the bother and cost of printing their separate party ballots. In 
saving expense to all the parties, expense was saved to the whole public. In the 
same way, but in far greater amount, in saving expense to each of the parties 
in the matter of hall rent and costs for arranging meetings, expense is saved 
to the whole public. Concerning this important matter, Secretary of the Treas- 
ury W. G. McAdoo st\ys: 

The proposal is the essence of common sense. Public schoolhouses are built 
with the people's money. They are employed for school purposes only a part 
of each day. They are available every night for public meetings and can be 
deyoted to no better purpose than as civic forums where people may meet and 
consider the serious, social, industrial, and political problems with which they 
must constantly grapple. 

One of the most expensive items in a political campaign is the rent of halls 
for public meetings. The suspicion exists that in the past the required money 
has too frequently been supplied by a few large contributors who had a selfish 
interest to serve ; that they have " grub staked " the successful political party 
and that it, in turn, has discharged its debt by bestowing governmental favors. 

This schoolhouse forum plan goes far toward destroying the necessity for 
large political contributions ; and for this alone it deserves adoption. 

BETTER CAMPAIGN AUDIENCES. 

Every candidate for public office desires the opportunity to address not only 
those who would vote for him anyway but citizens of other party affiliations 
as well. When the citizens are organized in accordance with the provisions of 
this bill the opportunity is offered to each candidate to reach all the people 
as he could not without the establishment of this general organization. It is 
easily possible for the candidates for county, town, and municipal offices to meet 
practi-cally all the adult citizens of the area they seek to serve, under this plan, 
by going from schoolhouse to schoolhouse. This, of course, is not possible in the 
case of candidates for State and National offices, who may not be able to make 
more than one visit to any city or town during a campaign. The arrangement 
for large mass meetings is taken care of, however, by the fact that when the 
citizens in the several districts of any city, town, or rural county are organ- 
ized for deliberation in accordance with the provisions of this bill, these local 
organizations are likely to federate into a city-Avide or county-wide associa- 
tion under whose auspices occasional meetings may be held in a high-school 
auditorium or other large hall. 

A PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 

AVhile it is a great advantage to have this citizenship organization effected 
so as to provide in an economical, convenient, and responsible manner for pre- 
election meetings, the plan embodied in this bill secures a still greater ad- 



6 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FOKUM BILL. 

vantage in furnisliins ready opportunity for the public official, after he is in 
office, to consult with the citizens togetlier regarding the matters in which 
lie is seeking to represent them. It was before such a community organization 
of citizens as that for which this bill provides that a public official said : 

A public official is supposed to represent the people. A good official wants to 
represent the people. But how in the world is he going to represent the people 
unless he knows what the people wantV And how is he going to find out what 
the pe<)i»le want unless they get together and give him a chance to talk things 
over with themV 

MEANS OF SELF=EDUCATION. 

This community forum organization of the citizenship in small neighI>or- 
hood units for the considenttion of piihlic <]uestions is in hnrniouy with the 
tendency to recognize that political questions are, in the last analysis, the 
proper subject matter of adult self-education. So long as the political method 
was chiefly an emotional appeal to prejudice and partisanship the suitable 
assembly place was a great hall ; but as soon as public questions are regarded 
as matters not to be shouted about and to develop the mob spirit over, but as 
problems to be calndy discussed, looked at from every side, and understood, 
then the suitable assembly is not a great throng, but a smrdler group, and the 
desirable meeting place is a comparatively small room. This is true of the 
discussion of most complex and difficult political problems. It is particularly 
true of industrial and social problems. The conmiunity forum organization, 
for which this bill provides, furnishes the best possible medium not merely for 
the dissemination of information concerning matters of public health, domestic 
economy, farming, etc., but for the assimilation of this information. 

THE EFFECTIVE MEANS OF AMERICANIZATION. 

In this bill the membership of the community forum organization is not re- 
stricted to voters or even to citizens. The reason for suggesting the inclusion 
of all adult residents of a public-school district in the organization is that by 
including the prospective as well as the actual citizens, the community forum 
becomes automatically a most effective agency of Americanization. For the 
recent immigrant to have an opportunity to participate in such a neighborhood 
association is not only to give him an opportunity to make whatever contribu- 
tion he can to the intelligence of the community, but is to make America mean 
something real to him. Much thought, energy, and money is being spent upon 
the problem of Americanization. It is doubtful whether any other agency, or 
all other agencies together can serve this great purpose more effectively than 
the community forum organization for which this bill provides. 

MODEL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATION. 

Where the adult residents of any district are ttrganized into an all-inclusive 
forum association for the presentation and discussion of public questions, the 
model is estal>lished for tlie organization of the l)oys and young men and the 
girls and young women who are above school age but not yet 21 into young 
people's neigliborhood associations for the training in organized self-government 
which the increasing civic duties to which tliey are coming presuppose and re- 
quire. The needs of young people between school age and adulthood for club 
and recreation opportunities have called forth many forms of institutional 
effort, such as the Y. M. (•. \. and t!i(< Y. W. (\ A. But none of these, nor all 
of them together, makes in-ovisidu tor all tlie yontli of any city, town, oi- rural 



PROPOSED COMMUNITY FOEUM BILL. 7 

couuty. This need of the young people is not limited to those of a particn- 
lar religious faith nor to those whose parents iU-e weW to do. When the 
adult residents of a school district are organized in accordance with the pro- 
visions of this bill tliey are in a position to consider and to act upon the needs 
of the young people. 

It may be thought advisable to include provisions for these further com- 
munity uses of the schoolhouse within the community-forum bill. If provisions 
for young people's use and for general recreational development are added, 
however, the distinction should be kept clear between the community forum, 
which is an authoritative organization of adults, and the community center, 
which includes young people's activities which are properly sub.1ect to direction. 
The distinction can be kept clear if it is seen that the executive secretary is 
properly under the community-forum organization while he is properly over 
the young people's activities in the community center. Provision for the fur- 
ther community use of the school buildings and grounds may be made by 
adding the following sections, or inserting them after section 4 : 

Sec. 5. That whenever a public-school building shall have been established 
as a community forum under the provisions of this act, and upon request to 
the board of school trustees so to do by a majority of the adult persons present 
and qualified to vote at any regular meeting, the said board shall designate 
such building as a community center for the organized training and recreation 
of the young people of the community, including such activities as may be 
requested by the said adult organization and approved by the said board, and 
shall make all appropriate and necessary arrangements for the convenient 
and proper use of the building for community-center meetings and activities 
at such times as the said adult organization may request and the said board 
approve. The executive secretary provided for in the preceding sections of this 
act shall serve as director of community-center activities, and shall be responsi- 
ble to the board of school trustees for rendering this service. To organize 
and direct the community-center activities provided for in this section, the 
executive secretary shall be furnished such assistants as in the opinion of 
the said board of school trustees this work may require. The said board of 
school trustees shall fix the compensation of the executive secretary for his 
services as director of community-center activities and the compensation of 
each of the assistants furnished to organize and direct community-center 
activities. 

Sec. 6. To meet the necessary expenses of community-center activities 
authorized in the preceding section of this act the school trustees are authorized 
to receive and administer funds appropriated for this purpose by the conmion 
council, count.v, town, or village board or other local taxing body. or. where 

possessing taxing power, to levy a tax not exceeding per dolhu- on the 

assessed value of the property within the area of the board's taxing power. 

Sec. 7. In the event of failure on the part of the common council or other 
taxing bod.v to appropriate funds to meet the expenses of community-center 
activities authorized in this act, upon the request of five per cent of the 
number of voters who voted in the last preceding election in city, town, or 

village, the question whether a tax not exceeding per dollar on the 

assessed value of the property of any city, town, or village shall be levied 
for this purpose, shall be submitted to the voters at the next regular election. 

Sec. 8. The qualifications for signing petitions and for voting in elections in 
pursuance of the provision in the preceding section shall be the same as those 
for voting upon other educational matters. 

FORUM PROVISION OF FIRST IMPORTANCE. 

The provision of comnuinity-center opportunities fen- the training and recre- 
ation of young people is important, and the sections suggested above may well 
be included in the bill ; but the provision for consistent adult forum organi- 
zation, although a matter of far less exjjense, is far more vital and important. 
If both can be secured — well. If only one — then the forum should be first. 



8 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL. 

LAW NOT COERCIVE. 

The enactment of this proposed legishition will iKJt (-ompel any commuuity 
to make use of its schooHiouse as a community fonini. It merely provides the 
legitimate way in wlileli this huildinji may lie used in an orderly and consistent 
maimer where the adult citizens of any district express the desire for this 
lar^rer use of their ueiulihorhood equipment. The mandatory element in the 
hill is simply the deiinite requirement upon the school trustees that they shall 
serve the properly exjiressed and appropriate educational needs of the adult 
(itizens, as now ilie law requires them to serve the instructiitnal needs of the 
children. 

Thei'e is no resource of any State greater than its latent civic intelligence. 
This legislation provides the way in which this greatest of all resources in a 
democracy may be developed in an economical, constructive, consistent, and 
lii-actical manner. 



FORAl A. [Recommended for adoption in States in wliicii persons of all races use the 
same public school buildings.] 

A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR AND REGULATE THE USE OF 
PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS AS COMMUNITY FORUMS. 

Be it enacted, etc. — 

That, upon the receipt of written ap])licatiou so to do, signed by not less than 
ten qualified voters residing in any public school district, the trustees in charge 
of the public school building in said district shall announce, or, through the 
agency of the principal of the school established in said building, cause to be 
announced, the date and hour of a meeting to be open to all the adult residents 
of said district and to be held in said building, which date and hour shall be 
not less than one week nor more than three weeks after the filing of the said 
application and at a convenient time not interfering with the instructional use 
of said building, and shall make, or cause to be made, all necessary arrange- 
ments for the comfort and convenience of the assembly of adult persons for 
said meeting, and shall direct the said principal to call the said meeting to 
order and to serve as clerk until the organization of adult persons to use said 
building as a community forum shall have been properly constituted as herein- 
after provided, or until it shall have been decided by a majority of those pres- 
ent and, by residence in said district, qualified to vote that said building is not 
to be used as a community forum. 

Sec. 2. That, if the proposal to use a public school building as a community 
forum is approved at the meeting provided for in section one of this act the 
adult persons, by residence in the public school district occupied by said build- 
ing qualified so to do, may proceed to organize and elect necessary officers 
and prescribe and adopt by-laws and regulations for the conduct of the meetings 
of said community forum. The by-laws and regulations as adopted shall 
show: (1) That the primary object of the organization is public education 
through the open presentation and orderly free discussion of public ques- 
tions with a view to a more intelligent discharge of the duties of adult citi- 
zenship; (2) that the membership and equal right of attendance and partici- 
/lation in all meetings of the organization includes all adult residents of the 
.said district ; (3) that the principal of the school established in said building, 
or a person associated with and nominated by said principal, and approved 
by a majority of tho.se pre.sent and voting at the meeting at which said nomi- 
nation is presented, is authorized to serve as executive secretary of the organ- 
ization. 



PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL. 9 

Sec. 3. That when an organization of adult persons shall have been formed 
and by-laws and regulations adopted, as provided in the preceding sections 
of this act, it shall be the duty of the trustees of the public school property to 
provide light, heat, comfortable seating facilities, janitor service where neces- 
sary, and suitable compensation for the organizing and clerical service of the 
executive secretary, and to make provision for such incidental office equipment 
and expenses of said executive secretary as said trustees may deem proper, 
and to make all other arrangements and provisions; that may be necessary 
to enable the weekly, biweekly, monthly, or special meetings of the organi- 
zation at such times as the organization may designate for its meetings. 
Amendments to the by-laws and regulations not in conflict with the provisions 
of section two of this act may be made from time to time as the organization 
may deem necessary. No public-school room shall be used under the provi- 
sions of this act during such hours as it is in use for the instruction of pupils, 
and the board of trustees of the public school property may make such other 
regulations as it may deem necessary to protect the physical property. 

Sec. 4. That it shall be the duty of the executive secretary provided for in 
the preceding sections of this act, in addition to serving as clerk at all meetings 
of the organization provided for in this act, to arrange, publish, and announce 
such a program for each meeting of the organization as the organization may 
direct, to communicate with and notify such candidates for public office or 
other speakers as the organization may wish to hear, to carry on such corre- 
spondence as may be necessary to secure suggestive material or information 
upon such public questions as the organization may desire to consider, and to 
act as the agent of the members of the organization in transmitting com- 
munications to State or local governmental agencies, and as the agent of the 
State and local governmental agencies in transmitting official communications 
to the citizens of the said local school district. 

Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of county, city, town, and district superin- 
tendents of schools to cooperate with and assist public-school principals or 
other persons chosen to serve as executive secretaries under the provisions of 
this act in discharge of the functions of the office of executive secretary, and it 
shall be the duty of the State superintendent of public instruction to enforce the 
terms of this section. 

Sec. 6. That until such time as executive secretarial service may be recog- 
nized and required as a part of the regular work of the public-school principal 
and provided for in the principal's salary, the executive secretary authorized 
by this act for each public-school building established and used as a com- 
munity forum under the provisions of this act shall be entitled to compensation 
at the rate of for executive secretarial service rendered at and in con- 
nection with each meeting of such community forum. 

Sec. 7. That one-half the compensation of the executive secretary provided 
for in section six of this act shall be paid by the board of school trustees out of 
local school funds in the same manner and at the same time as the teachers' 
salaries within the school district are paid. The remaining one-half of the 
compensation of the executive secretary for services rendered at and in con- 
nection with community forum meetings in accordance with the provisions of 
this act shall be paid from the treasury of the State. Application there- 
for shall be made by the board of school trustees to the State superin- 
tendent and shall set forth in detail the number and dates of meetings served 
by the executive secretary, the number in attendance, names of principal 
speakers, and topic of each meeting. Such application shall be accompanied 
by a statement by the executive secretary attested by oath or affidavit setting 
forth the number of meetings served by him and for which he claims compensa- 



10 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FOEUM BILL. 

tiou iiiuler the provisions of this act. I'pon receipt of such application liic 
State superiuteiuleut shall certify to the state auditor the amount due sudi 
executive secretary, whereupon the said auditor shall draw his warrant upon 
tlie State treasurer in favor of sucli executive .secretary for the amount so 
certified. 

Sec. 8. There is hereby apitropriated, out of any moneys in tlie general f-and 

not otherwise expended, the sum of , or so much thereof as may be 

riecessary, to carry out the provisions of .section seven of this act. 

Sec. 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage 
and publication. 

Sec. 10. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act 
are hereby repealed. 

FORM B. [Recommended for adoption in States in wliicii separate public scliool buildings 
are maintained for the use of persons of different races.] 

A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR AND REGULATE THE USE OF 
PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS AS COMMUNITY FORUMS. 

lie it ciKictcil, i'tr.. That, upon the receipt of written application .so to do, 
signed by not less than ten adult citizens residing in any public-school district, 
all of said adult citizens being of the race for which the public school in said 
district is established and conducted, the trustees in charge of said public 
school shall announce, or, through the agency of the principal of said school, 
cause to be announced, the date and hour of a meeting to l)e open to all the 
adult persons of the race for which said school is established and conducted 
residing in said district and to be held in said building, which date and hour 
shall be not less than one week, nor more than three weeks after the tiling of 
the said application and at a convenient time not interfering with the instruc- 
tional use of said building, and shall make, or cause to be made, all necessary 
arrangements for the comfort and convenience of the assembly of adult persons 
for said meeting, and shall direct the said principal to call the said meeting to 
order and to serve as clerk until the organization of adult persons to use said 
building as a community forum shall have been properly constituted as here- 
inafter provided, or until it shall have been decided by a nuijority of those 
present and, by residence in said district and membership in said race, quali- 
fied to vote, that said building is not to be used as a community forum. 

Sec. 2. That, if the proposal to use a public school building as a community 
forum is approved at the meeting provided for in section one of this act, the 
adult persons, by residence in the public-school district occupied by said build- 
ing and membership in the race for w'hich the school in said building is estab- 
lished and conducted, qualified so to do, may proceed to organize and elect 
necessary officers and prescribe and adopt by-laws and regulations for the con- 
duct of the meetings of said conuuunity forum. The by-laws and regulations 
as adopted shall show: (1) That the primary object of the organization is 
public education through the open presentation and orderly free discussion of 
public questions with a view to a more intelligent discharge of the duties of 
adult citizenship; (2) That the membership and equal right of attendance and 
participation in all meetings of the organization includes all adult residents of 
the said district who are of the race for which the school in said building is 
established and conducted; (3) That the principal of the school established 
in said building, or a person as.sociated with and nominated by said principal 
and approved by a majority of those present and voting at the meeting at which 
said nomination is presented, is authorized to serve as executive secretary of 
the organization. 



PROPOSED COMMUNITY FORUM BILL. 11 

Sicc. 3. That when an organization of adult persons shall have been formed 
and by-laws and regulations adopted, as provided in the preceding sections 
of this act, it shall be the duty of the trustees of the public-school property to 
l)rovide light, heat, comfortable seating facilities, janitor service where neces- 
sary, and suitable compensation for the organizing and clerical service of 
the executive secretary, and to make provision for such incidental office 
equipment and expenses of said executive secretary as said trustees may deem 
proper, and to make all other arrangements and provisions that may be neces- 
sary to enable the weekly, biweekly, monthly, or special meetings of the 
organization at such time as the organization may designate for its meetings. 
Amendments to the by-laws and regulations not in conflict with the provisions 
of section two of this act may be made from time to time as the organization 
may deem necessary. No public-school room shall be used under the provisions 
of this act during such hours as it is in use for the instruction of pupils, and 
the board of trustees of the public-school property may make such other regu- 
lations as it may deem necessary to protect the physical property. 

Sec. 4. That it shall be the duty of the executive secretary provided for in 
the preceding sections of this act, in addition to serving as clerk at all meetings 
of the organization provided for in this act, to arrange, publish, and announce 
such a program for each meeting of the organization as the organization may 
direct, to communicate with and notify such candidates for public office or 
other speakers as the organization may wish to hear, to carry on such corre- 
spondence as may be necessary to secure suggestive material or information 
upon such public questions as the organization may desire to consider, and 
to act as the agent of the members of the organization in transmitting com- 
munications to State or local governmental agencies, and as the agent of the 
State and local governmental agencies in transmitting communications to the 
members of the organization. 

Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of county, city, town, and district superin- 
tendents of schools to cooperate with and assist public-school principals or 
other persons chosen to serve as executive secretaries under the provisions of 
this act, in discharging the functions of the office of executive secretary, and 
it shall be the duty of the State superintendent of public instruction to en- 
force the terms of this section. 

Sec. 6. That until such time as executive secretarial service may be recog- 
nized and required as a part of the regular work of the public-school principal 
and provided for in the principal's salary, the executive secretary authorized 
by this act for each public-school building established and used as a com- 
munity forum under the provisions of this act shall be entitled to compensa- 
tion at the rate of for executive secretarial service rendered at and 

in connection with each meeting of such community forum. 

Sec. 7. That one-half the compensation of the executive secretary provided for 
in section 6 of this act shall be paid by the board of school trustees out of local 
school funds in the same manner and at the same time as the teachers' salaries 
within the school district are paid. The remaining one-half of the compensa- 
tion of the executive secretary for services rendered at and in connection with 
community forum meetings in accordance with the provisions of this act shall 
be paid from the treasury of the State. Application therefor shall be made by 
the board of school trustees to tha State superintendent of public instruction 
and shall set forth in detail the number and dates of meetings served by the 
executive secretary, the number in attendance, nnmes of principal speakers, and 
topic of each meeting. Such applicntinn shall be accompanied by a statement 
by the executive secretary attested by oath or affidavit set' ing forth the number 



12 PROPOSED COMMUNITY FOKUM BILL. 

of meetings served by him and for which he claims compensation under the 
provisions of this act. Upon receipt of such application the State superintend- 
ent shall certify to the State auditor the amount due such executive secretary, 
whereupon the said auditor shall draw his warrant upon the State treasurer in 
favor of such executive secretary for the amount so certified. 

Sec. 8. There is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the general fund 
not otherwise expended the sum of , or so much thereof as may be neces- 
sary to carry out the provisions of section 7 of this act. 

Sec. 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage 
and publication. 

Sec. 10. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act 
are hereby repealed. 



WASUING'ION . GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICB : 1W17 



019 605 060 



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